YAZZ AHMED - La Saboteuse
Naim Records Naim CD340
Yazz Ahmed - trumpet, flugelhorn, quarter-tone flugelhorn, composer, producer; Lewis Wright - vibraphone; Shabaka Hutchings – bass clarinet; Samuel Halkvist – electric guitars; Naadia Sheriff - Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer; Dave Mannington – bass guitar (sponge bass on Bloom); Dudley Phillips – bass guitar; Martin France – drums; Corrina Silvester – bucket, bendir, darbuka, krakab, riqq, pins, gongs, waterphone, sagat, frame drum, ankle bells, drum kit; Noel Langley – producer (trumpets on Al Emadi); mixed by Tom Jenkins; mastered by Robin Morrison
Recorded at multiple locations between 2013 and 2016
Is there a more imaginative, inspirational and visionary musician working in the UK today than the British/Bahrani trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer, Yazz Ahmed? If there is, I’d be interested to know.
The 30-something Ahmed has been taking the world by storm in the last few years with her dynamic live performances fronting a variety of ensembles including the Hafla Band and Electric Dreams. On the recording front, this is only her second album as leader, but one has the sense that she does not venture into the studio unless she has done much soul-searching. Each album must be special; it has to say something new. There are those musicians who produce scores of albums by the time they reach their mid-30s. In many of these cases we are subjected to the same old same old: the same old licks, same old clichés, same old structures. We know what’s coming and we yawn at the predictability of it all. This is not the Yazz way. Her way is the spiritual path, the struggle, the search, the journey, the long thought-process. This can never be achieved by the “let’s record 13 tracks today and let’s mix it all tomorrow” approach beloved of some artists I happen to know. La Saboteuse, recorded over a three-year period, represents the opposite side of the spectrum. You can’t hurry things when perfection is the goal. And it really helps when you’re not fighting the ticking clock. When you’re allowed to take your time ideas can sit awhile, percolate, evolve, morph. Rome wasn’t built in a day or two. It takes time for an acorn to grow into a great oak.
Ahmed’s sleeve notes are extremely insightful and are symptomatic of her desire to communicate universal truths, and they offer us a little window into her soul. She says this: “in the last few years I have been on a spiritual journey. I’ve been looking within, trying to work out who I am, seeking a way to express myself by developing a musical language which resonates with my growing sense of identity”. Clearly, Ahmed possesses a mind that is profound, thoughtful, open and sagacious and a soul that is intent on celebrating the glorious multiplicity of life with all its bounteous musics. Of course, jazz is very important to Yazz, but it is only one ingredient in a polymorphous stew that nourishes us, intoxicates us, delights us, challenges us. She goes on to say: “whilst La Saboteuse continues the exploration of the music of my Middle Eastern heritage, it also reflects the influences of recent collaborations with creative musicians from the fields of rock, ambient music and sound design. This includes the incorporation of live electronics and the digital manipulation of field recordings, including the voice of my Arabic teacher Fartun Tahir on the title track. I also use computer software, both to create new textures and as a compositional tool to restructure the source material”.
Ahmed has selected a stellar line-up to help her realise her beautiful vision, all nine musicians (I include her partner and soul-mate Noel Langley in the list – he plays multi-tracked trumpets on “Al Emadi” along with Ahmed herself, and co-produced the album) playing crucial roles in the album’s story. Ahmed is the most democratic and generous of leaders, always allowing her musicians the space to express themselves freely, to let their unbounded imaginations take flight. She is the first among equals, guiding the ship with love and grace as it sails through both calm and choppy waters, the song of her burnished trumpet or flugel inspiring everyone on board.
A master-stroke is the interlacing of expansive and complex multi-layered pieces with delicate miniatures of the utmost simplicity, five of the thirteen tracks magical spontaneously-composed flugel and vibraphone duets.
“Jamil Jamal” throbs with rhythmic energy from start to finish. Silvester’s percussion sets up the groove before Sheriff’s Rhodes and Phillips’ bass lay down an infectious riff. It is the bed upon which Hutchings, Sheriff and Ahmed are able to smoulder, seethe and soar. “The Space Between the Fish and the Moon” begins with a soundscape of pulsating space-age electronics before Ahmed’s flugelhorn and Wright’s vibes sing a slow sad hypnotic waltz, the harmonies floating in a watery space, strange futuristic sounds never very far away. In the title track, Hutchings’ quiet and seductive bass clarinet tells us that there is trouble ahead in the form of la sabotuese, that inner destroyer who can’t wait to put a spanner in the works. In the gloom Fartun Tahir intones Langley’s little poem in Arabic. In English the words read:
"She lives inside me
She says she is my friend
She is not to be trusted
She wants to keep me small"
The track is unremittingly dark and mysterious, the blending of trumpet, bass clarinet and vibes a miracle of crepuscular sound and space.
“Al Emadi” is a cinematic tour-de-force. There is still intrigue and mystery (note the exotic quarter-tone flugel in the middle of the track) but the multi-tracked trumpets of Ahmed and Langley are bold and brash, the whole opus relentlessly driven forward by Silvester’s “in the pocket” bendir and darbuka, as la saboteuse is silenced. “The Lost Pearl” is a wonder of polyrhythm, Wright scaling the peaks in a solo of immense power and passion. The two covers – Radiohead’s “Bloom” from their album The King of Limbs ( significantly both Ahmed and Langley are featured on that album) and These New Puritains’ “Organ Eternal” (Ahmed has toured the world with this band) - sit very well alongside Ahmed’s compositions, and they offer a new and exciting textural slant to the original versions. The celebratory minimalism of these tracks contrasts greatly with the maximalist approach of the breathtaking composition “Beleille”. Here, we feel we are on a constant journey, never quite knowing what lies around the corner. The imagination is stirred, the soul fed as we feel the rhythm of life pulsating through our bodies. The harmonies are restless, the tonality forever shifting. It is a real roller-coaster of a ride. All the tracks on the album are jewels but this is a diamond that shines brightest of all.
In summary, La Saboteuse is a fantastic album on so many levels. It is subtle, nuanced, balanced, graceful, mystical, passionate and heartfelt. The playing is faultless from beginning to end and it is sonically perfect. There is something seriously wrong with the music business if it doesn’t win an award. In fact it should win many.
La Saboteuse is available on CD, LP or digital download from Bandcamp
Reviewed by Geoff Eales
Naim Records Naim CD340
Yazz Ahmed - trumpet, flugelhorn, quarter-tone flugelhorn, composer, producer; Lewis Wright - vibraphone; Shabaka Hutchings – bass clarinet; Samuel Halkvist – electric guitars; Naadia Sheriff - Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer; Dave Mannington – bass guitar (sponge bass on Bloom); Dudley Phillips – bass guitar; Martin France – drums; Corrina Silvester – bucket, bendir, darbuka, krakab, riqq, pins, gongs, waterphone, sagat, frame drum, ankle bells, drum kit; Noel Langley – producer (trumpets on Al Emadi); mixed by Tom Jenkins; mastered by Robin Morrison
Recorded at multiple locations between 2013 and 2016
Is there a more imaginative, inspirational and visionary musician working in the UK today than the British/Bahrani trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer, Yazz Ahmed? If there is, I’d be interested to know.
The 30-something Ahmed has been taking the world by storm in the last few years with her dynamic live performances fronting a variety of ensembles including the Hafla Band and Electric Dreams. On the recording front, this is only her second album as leader, but one has the sense that she does not venture into the studio unless she has done much soul-searching. Each album must be special; it has to say something new. There are those musicians who produce scores of albums by the time they reach their mid-30s. In many of these cases we are subjected to the same old same old: the same old licks, same old clichés, same old structures. We know what’s coming and we yawn at the predictability of it all. This is not the Yazz way. Her way is the spiritual path, the struggle, the search, the journey, the long thought-process. This can never be achieved by the “let’s record 13 tracks today and let’s mix it all tomorrow” approach beloved of some artists I happen to know. La Saboteuse, recorded over a three-year period, represents the opposite side of the spectrum. You can’t hurry things when perfection is the goal. And it really helps when you’re not fighting the ticking clock. When you’re allowed to take your time ideas can sit awhile, percolate, evolve, morph. Rome wasn’t built in a day or two. It takes time for an acorn to grow into a great oak.
Ahmed’s sleeve notes are extremely insightful and are symptomatic of her desire to communicate universal truths, and they offer us a little window into her soul. She says this: “in the last few years I have been on a spiritual journey. I’ve been looking within, trying to work out who I am, seeking a way to express myself by developing a musical language which resonates with my growing sense of identity”. Clearly, Ahmed possesses a mind that is profound, thoughtful, open and sagacious and a soul that is intent on celebrating the glorious multiplicity of life with all its bounteous musics. Of course, jazz is very important to Yazz, but it is only one ingredient in a polymorphous stew that nourishes us, intoxicates us, delights us, challenges us. She goes on to say: “whilst La Saboteuse continues the exploration of the music of my Middle Eastern heritage, it also reflects the influences of recent collaborations with creative musicians from the fields of rock, ambient music and sound design. This includes the incorporation of live electronics and the digital manipulation of field recordings, including the voice of my Arabic teacher Fartun Tahir on the title track. I also use computer software, both to create new textures and as a compositional tool to restructure the source material”.
Ahmed has selected a stellar line-up to help her realise her beautiful vision, all nine musicians (I include her partner and soul-mate Noel Langley in the list – he plays multi-tracked trumpets on “Al Emadi” along with Ahmed herself, and co-produced the album) playing crucial roles in the album’s story. Ahmed is the most democratic and generous of leaders, always allowing her musicians the space to express themselves freely, to let their unbounded imaginations take flight. She is the first among equals, guiding the ship with love and grace as it sails through both calm and choppy waters, the song of her burnished trumpet or flugel inspiring everyone on board.
A master-stroke is the interlacing of expansive and complex multi-layered pieces with delicate miniatures of the utmost simplicity, five of the thirteen tracks magical spontaneously-composed flugel and vibraphone duets.
“Jamil Jamal” throbs with rhythmic energy from start to finish. Silvester’s percussion sets up the groove before Sheriff’s Rhodes and Phillips’ bass lay down an infectious riff. It is the bed upon which Hutchings, Sheriff and Ahmed are able to smoulder, seethe and soar. “The Space Between the Fish and the Moon” begins with a soundscape of pulsating space-age electronics before Ahmed’s flugelhorn and Wright’s vibes sing a slow sad hypnotic waltz, the harmonies floating in a watery space, strange futuristic sounds never very far away. In the title track, Hutchings’ quiet and seductive bass clarinet tells us that there is trouble ahead in the form of la sabotuese, that inner destroyer who can’t wait to put a spanner in the works. In the gloom Fartun Tahir intones Langley’s little poem in Arabic. In English the words read:
"She lives inside me
She says she is my friend
She is not to be trusted
She wants to keep me small"
The track is unremittingly dark and mysterious, the blending of trumpet, bass clarinet and vibes a miracle of crepuscular sound and space.
“Al Emadi” is a cinematic tour-de-force. There is still intrigue and mystery (note the exotic quarter-tone flugel in the middle of the track) but the multi-tracked trumpets of Ahmed and Langley are bold and brash, the whole opus relentlessly driven forward by Silvester’s “in the pocket” bendir and darbuka, as la saboteuse is silenced. “The Lost Pearl” is a wonder of polyrhythm, Wright scaling the peaks in a solo of immense power and passion. The two covers – Radiohead’s “Bloom” from their album The King of Limbs ( significantly both Ahmed and Langley are featured on that album) and These New Puritains’ “Organ Eternal” (Ahmed has toured the world with this band) - sit very well alongside Ahmed’s compositions, and they offer a new and exciting textural slant to the original versions. The celebratory minimalism of these tracks contrasts greatly with the maximalist approach of the breathtaking composition “Beleille”. Here, we feel we are on a constant journey, never quite knowing what lies around the corner. The imagination is stirred, the soul fed as we feel the rhythm of life pulsating through our bodies. The harmonies are restless, the tonality forever shifting. It is a real roller-coaster of a ride. All the tracks on the album are jewels but this is a diamond that shines brightest of all.
In summary, La Saboteuse is a fantastic album on so many levels. It is subtle, nuanced, balanced, graceful, mystical, passionate and heartfelt. The playing is faultless from beginning to end and it is sonically perfect. There is something seriously wrong with the music business if it doesn’t win an award. In fact it should win many.
La Saboteuse is available on CD, LP or digital download from Bandcamp
Reviewed by Geoff Eales
